Dental floss is commonly housed within a hand-sized plastic container. The dental floss is wound about a cardboard or plastic core which is rotationally mounted within the plastic container so that the floss can be unwound from the core. The container has an opening through which an exposed portion of the floss is dispensed. The dental floss container also has a small blade or cutter positioned near the opening which is used to sever a segment of floss.
These conventional floss dispensers have an inherent drawback in that they are susceptible to contamination. To withdraw floss from one such dispenser, a user grasps the container with one hand and the exposed portion of the floss with the other hand. The user pulls the floss to unwind it to a desired length and then severs it. Unfortunately, the exposed portion of floss extending from the container opening to the cutter lies very close to, and often in contact with, the plastic container causing the user to touch the container when handling the exposed portion of floss. That is, a user cannot pinch the exposed portion of the floss with his or her fingers without contacting the plastic container. As a result, the floss container is contaminated by both the support hand which grasps the container and the other hand which touches the container when handling the exposed portion of the floss.
The issue of contamination is particularly important in the dental office environment. Dentists and dental hygienists work with several patients every day. While these professionals typically wear a new pair of sterilized gloves for each patient, the same floss dispenser is often used throughout the day. A problem arises in that the professional might contaminate the floss dispenser with germs or diseases of one of his or her patients and effectively transfer theses germs to another patient.
Another available alternative is to use a new floss dispenser with each patient. However, this practice is expensive.
The necessity of maintaining sterile environments in a dental office setting is becoming increasingly important with the onslaught of infectious diseases, such as AIDS. It is desirable to construct a floss dispenser which does not require the dentists or dental hygienist to handle it and thus, could be used for many different patients.
A second inherent drawback in conventional floss dispensers is that they are cumbersome to handle because one must use two hands to cut a desired strip of floss. This is often inconvenient for a dentist or dental hygienist because they must stop what they are presently doing and use both hands to pick up the floss container and cut a piece of floss.
This invention provides many types of floss dispensers which conveniently rest on, or mount to, a surface and which dispense floss in such a manner that the user does not contact the dispenser and thus, does not contaminate it.